Chris Paul turned on a veteran performance for the ages as the Phoenix Suns got their play-off campaign off to a dominant start, beating the New Orleans Pelicans 110-99.
Phoenix have had a solitary target all year – and that’s going one better than they did last year and winning the NBA Finals.
They were utterly rampant in the regular season, finishing with eight more wins than the second-best team in the NBA, in either conference.
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Paul scored 19 points in the fourth quarter to finish with 30, making a string of clutch shots down the stretch and staving off a third-quarter comeback bid from the Pelicans.
“Classic Chris,” Suns coach Monty Williams said.
Paul also finished with 10 assists, seven rebounds and three steals.
“It’s just reading the game,” Paul said.
“We watch games all day, every day. We got to watch all the games yesterday. We watched the games today. We know in the playoffs, teams aren’t going to lay down.”
Devin Booker, who himself has 25 points, labelled Paul a “true competitor” after the game.
“He wants it that bad. You can see it in his demeanour, you can see it in his walk. It shouldn’t surprise anybody. He’s built for these moments,” Booker said.
Paul is considered to be one of the best-ever NBA players to not win a championship, but his team have every chance of doing so this year.
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“Man that is the CP3 show,” Deandre Ayton said when speaking to reporters afterwards
“We just got a little taste of it,” He said.
“He was locked in, he just took advantage of what the defence give him, there was a lot of switching going on in that quarter and he just took advantage of it.
“He did what he did best, reading the defence and just attacking – and we trust him.”
Game two of this series is on Wednesday at midday, AEST.
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